Vanabout 2019 Day 13: Medford

Guess what!

My phone has been found.

Other than that, there’s not much to say about this day. It was just a moving day to get to McMinnville.

Firsts

• Viewing of Mount Shasta. Unfortunately I took no pictures.  It is amazing.

Vanabout 2019 Day 12: Sacramento

Well, really Orangevale.

This was just a day to get the hell out of Oakland and chill with an old friend with some all you can eat sushi and 90 Day Fiancée.

But I did get some decoration for Stevie Ray’s Fridge.

That’s me an Zoe if you couldn’t tell.

Firsts

• Eating sushi in California this Century
• Watching of 90 Day Fiancée

Vanabout 2019 Day 11: Oakland Again

After drinking so much wine it was time for a long beer dinking day.

Starting at Oakland United in the Jack London area of Oakland.

Then off to Federation Brewery, but alas no pix.

Firsts

• Visit to Oakland United and Federation
• Sunday Funday w/ Sam not ending at Stan’s

Vanabout 2019 Day 9 & 10: Sonoma

So this is where the trip takes a bit of a turn.

I woke up on day 9 and could not find my phone. All the pictures I had taken the day before, unless I posted them to Facebook, were gone.

And this is why all the wineries were closed  once I got to Sonoma. I had to stop on the way and get a new phone. But at least I got to drink at my now favorite west coast brewery, Henhouse. They are bringing the hazy IPA.

The next day was filled with beautiful Sonoma scenery and wines. Wineries visited – Rochioli, Bacigalupi, Scribe and Grunlach Bundschu.

Firsts

• Visit to Henhouse – wow great beers. My favorite Westcoast brewery now.
• Visit to Scribe – too bad it was too late
• Visit to GunBun – I think we’re near Napa.

Vanabout 2019 Day 7 & 8: Oakland

Holy motherforking shirtballs!

It was 97 degrees in Oakland when I showed up. These are not the temperatures I’ve come to northern California for.

The first night was fairly chill. Dinner at a local German restaurant where I had my second schnitzel of the trip, Afterwards, a quick beer or two at the much hear of Tigers.

It was the second night where all the stuff happened

The evening started as so many evenings do, with several Irish Coffees at the home of Irish Coffees, The Buena Vista. Some may wonder how it is that Ireland’s two iconic beverages, Guinness Stout and Irish Coffee, just happen to look alike.  I guess it’s just some crazy coincidence.

Then it was back to Hog Island for oysters.

Do yourself a favor and find someone that looks at you like Sam looks at oysters.

A quick ferry ride back to Oakland.

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Bucket list ✔ #AtAts #oaklandferry #clouds

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Then it was off to The Greek Theater to see Flogging Mollys – except they were just finishing up as I arrived. Still, it was awesome to hang out at such an amazing old outdoor arena. And Social Distortion was pretty good too.

Then finally I ended my night in Berkley at The Graduate, named for one of my all-time favorite movies.

This was a great day.

Firsts

• Concert at The Greek Theater, a heretofore unknown bucket list item.
• Time at the North American birthplace of the Irish Coffee, The Buena Vista --  also a bucket list item.

Vanabout 2019 Day 5 & 6: Angels Camp

It was my original plan to camp in East Yosemite on day 5 and somewhere west of Yosemite on day 6. But when I got to the day 5 campsite there was no cell service. So I couldn’t work. I decided just to blow though Yosemite and find an RV Park and hang out for a couple of days to relax and not drive. Thus  I found this place in Angels Camp.

Cool story, huh?

Firsts

• Time Zoe got to interact with goats.
• Seeing the Devil’s Postpile

Vanabout 2019 Day 4: Mammoth Lakes

This was a long day of driving. But I did get to check off a bucket list item, seeing the Hoover Dam. I wish I would have had more time there, but I needed to get to the next campsite before it got dark.

Firsts

• Driving in Las Vegas
• Seeing the Hoover Dam [Bucket List]

Vanabout 2019 Day 3: Flagstaff

If your ever in Edgewood NM and need a place to park your RV overnight, I highly recommend the Walmart there. This has got to be one of the friendliest Walmarts I’ve ever been in. But that’s admittedly a very short list.

The whole point of staying in ABQ overnight was to go to my beloved Gruet Winery.  But, according to Google, it didn’t open until noon, so I headed over to the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. Cool place, check it out.

I finally got to Gruet and it had been opened for an hour. Thanks Mountain Time. Regardless, this was a great tasting. So great I may have purchased more than a case.

The day ended at Sunset Crater just north of Flagstaff. This was the first of two nights i went to sleep before 9pm just because that’s all there was to do.

Firsts

• Shower in the van for this trip
• Tasting at Gruet
• Time standing behind a rocket engine.

Vanabout 2019 Day 2: Albuquerque

Vanabouts, and Walkabouts before them, are all about relearning the lessons of the past. 

Most of today I was working at the nice little RV park in Childress.  This place is a delight. For a mere $15 you get water and power and a beautiful little park to stay in. So beautiful is this park, for “lunch” I took Zoe for a walk around the little lake in the little park. Many many pictures were taken.

“But Steve”, you’re wondering, “where are these pictures?”

Well, I found out the next day, I had failed to put a memory card in my camera. So some great pictures of this delightful little park and, more importantly, some nice arty pictures taken at Cadillac Ranch will never see the light of day since the light of those pictures were not saved.  So this is the extent of my Cadillac Ranch pictures.

Firsts

• Use of my big ass battery to power the microwave to warm up my dinner.
• Oh, and this:

Vanabout 2019 Day 1: Childress

Well that didn’t go well.
I woke up at 5am. 5 motherforking AM!! To start my 6 week Vanabout that just about circumnavigates the US of A. Sorry Florida.
But as I was rolling into a rest area 30 minutes outside Wichita Falls to call into a couple of meetings, I made a terrible revelation. I left my new big honking battery back at the house.
This guy:

This is a vital element of this Vanabout, so after my meetings I had to turn around and go back home. After four hours of driving, I was back were I started, on my couch.
I left shortly after my workday was over and got to experience both morning and evening Dallas rush hour traffic. Bur for my efforts I got this at Opa’s Schnitzel Haus:



And this

Firsts!
This Vanabout will mark a number of firsts. So, I will try to acknowledge each time a first occurs every day.

• The first day of the Vanabout (Duh)
• The first time I took a conference call at a rest area.

NYC and Vermont Beer Fest 2018

Seriously, moment for moment, one of the best trips I’ve ever taken.  I got to eat at not one but two iconic NYC eateries; Katz’s Deli and Peter Luger’s.  And I got to bask in the beauty of Vermont while drinking some of the best beer the world has to offer.